Friday, August 23, 2013

Peanuts, walnuts, hazelnuts, brazil nuts,… all of them. And corn, too, and channa and split peas and anything else that’s crunchy like that.

In Trinidad, nuts are mainly bar food. As in, if you’re in a bar (or anywhere else) drinking beer and/or Puncheon and/or whiskey and/or anything else, you’re very likely to find a bowl of nuts within easy reach of your hands, to make sure more than pure alcohol enters your body. Nuts are to drinking what doubles are to post-drinking. If that makes any sense to you.

And if you just want a snack, again nuts are the answer to your body’s calling. You might be watching a movie at home or waiting for a taxi downtown or listening to the radio during a long drive on the highway or a back road – nuts will put your stomach to work to keep it from growling if the last/next meal is too long a time off, and they’ll take your mind off how bored you are while not filling it with regret or guilt (it’s not chocolate, after all).

To make packaging, buying, storing and serving said nuts (or other crunchy things) easier, most of the time they are distributed not in bags, not in boxes or tins, but in bottles! Yes, you can buy a bottle of salted peanuts or a bottle of hot but salt-free channa or a bottle of crunchy corn. On the other hand, in Colombia you can buy milk and water in a plastic bag – what a backwards world!

The only locally produced nuts that I’ve seen that aren’t usually sold in bottles are honey-roasted peanuts. Those, you can get in little brown or white paper bags, buying them straight from the person who makes them at the side of the road or on a street corner – fresh and crunchy.

Sunday, August 11, 2013

I did not get to blog as much as I wanted during my stay in Vienna, especially the last few weeks. I have loads of stories to tell, but I just didn't find the time between all the things I had to do and all the things I wanted to do. Seeing friends, seeing my family, preparing jewelery to be sold and wallets, all the organizational items that had to be crossed off my To Do list! Whoa, it really was a lot. And that's only the part that's commonly referred to as "Freizeitstress", or "leisure stress" in English. As if! Such a thing shouldn't even exist. Don't think I didn't do anything productive, though. And don't think I forgot about you. I haven't. I was just really busy. Honest. I hope I'll get to tell you some of my stories and share some of my beautiful Austrian experiences once I'm back in Trinidad, which is where I'm going right now. I don't know if I will, but - as always - I'll try. No time to tell you right now, though I wish I could. Right now, August 12th 2013, I'm in the airport. Vienna International Airport, to be exact. Almost in the same spot where I sat thirteen months and a day ago, on July 11th 2012. That was the last time I left Austria. Also with a one way ticket. I'm getting a lot of practice at leaving.

Sitting at the gate, writing to you.

Sounds sad, right? But no! It's not. If you never leave anywhere, you can't ever arrive anywhere. And I like arriving. I'm looking forward to arriving in Trinidad and starting my new adventure. And I'm already looking forward to arriving back here at Vienna International Airport again and seeing all those lovely people again that I'll miss a lot, even though I only just said good-bye to them all. Yes, I'm looking forward to that arrival, no matter when it will be. Although, hopefully, not too soon. There are things to be lived and experienced elsewhere! Right now, however, I have to live and experience the boarding process for my flight. So no more writing for now. Which is good, because I was about to get all sappy and über philosophical on you. Nobody wants that so I'm off onto my plane now. Happy travels.